Doomed from the start...Stuck in the Teeth

[FredSanford3]

I'm all for a challenging scenario, but only 20 VP's available for the US side makes it tough...really tough.

edit: and you can't even have the kindness to put a unit inside the 2 center VP loc's? So I can't even start collecting that whopping 0.7 VP occupation bonus for a few hours. Harsh, dudes, really harsh.

[simovitch]

It's not about the number of victory points you gain, it's about the percentage of total victory points. I agree it appears a bit disconcerting.

[FredSanford3]

Fair enough. I got a stalemate 12 (me) to 16 (Germans). I was robbed I tell ya!

[FredSanford3]

Might as well move this to the AAR thread.

Here's the map. Seriously, I was robbed. I blew 2 bridges, and he's short of the others. I stopped him from crossing in force (a couple of loose companies infiltrated across, with one harrassing my base), but otherwise stuffed him. I think I got penalized on casualties, but I'll have to try it as the Germans to see how easy it is one their side. Given the context of this scenario in the 'big picture', I think holding the 116th at the Our for 48 hours is better than 'stalemate' IMO.

It's a short scenario, and give the orders delay penalty at the start, there's not much the US player can do right off. I gave orders to 2/112 Bn to move down to cover the Ouren Bridge South, as well as sending some AT platoons forward independently to cover the empty VP locs asap.

For the Oberhausen bridge in center, I left the AA battery and the arty bn in place (this ended up costing me my artillery, but I know they can be tough units to attack head-on. On the other side, I moved the C.103 Engineers down to deny the crossing. When the SPAT platoon arrived, I sent it there as well.

Up north, I initially ordered the 2/424th to fall back to the crossing point at Stubach, leaving company B/112 to block the road down to the valley. Before 2/424 was able to process these orders, the enemy was already upon him, so I simply reattached him to 112th Regt HQ and cancelled the move. Later, I adjusted some individual company positions to block trails directly, and gradually shift toward the river. The Germans ended up pretty well stymied up here. Early on day 2, I moved Co. E and the AT platoon to guard Stuback, since the Stuback location effectively blocks exit from the valley (on map anyhow) even if the enemy does cross the road bridge at the very north.

Down south, I detached the D/707th lt. tank platoon for independent ops to hunt foot-bound infiltrators that have crossed the river. They were effective in combination with company G in driving away a German infantry company that was firing on my base, but later I had to send the tanks to help out at the river, and left Co. G and the base to fend for themselves. Company G ended up getting pummelled by artillery and spent most of day 2 in the woods rout recovering.

The rest of the Regt. got a "Deny Crossing", in situ, and full everything. Hold at all costs.

The Germans spent day 1 exiting their fortifications and attacking my positions along the ridge. I let the frontline troops fight it out as best they could, but they were eventually pushed out of the initial positions and back into the forest on the reverse slope. The Germans reached the river at Oberhausen early in the morning of Day 2, and a strong multi-battalion column supported by tanks assaulted the 229th FA and the C.447th AA battery, supported by engineers and the SPAT platoon firing from the hill across the river. After a sharp battle that saw the 229th overrun and destroyed, the Germans pushed past the AA guns and attempted to force the crossing. C/103rd Engineers were on hand to blow the bridge, thwarting the enemy crossing attempt. Immediately there after, I pulled the engineers (MVP of the scenario) and SPAT plt., and sent them south to support the defence of the Oren South bridge.

By this time, it was late afternoon of the second day. Ever since moving down from Lieler late on day one, the 2/112th had been fighting German infantry that had infiltrated across the river. Elements of the 1st bn were starting to fall back into the forest east of the river after the first day's fighting on the ridge. After nightfall, the Germans came down the hill from the Sevenig area in a major push toward the Ouren South crossing. To slow and attempt to distract the enemy attack, I ordered the 1st bn to make a series of company sized harrasing attacks into the flanks of the German advance. Some paid heavily for this.

However, by this time the engineers, SPAT platoon, and light tank company were all rushing to the area to support the center defence. Both the German assault and the meager reinforcements were moving toward the north/east end of the Ouren south bridge- the engineers had a 'deny crossing' order objective placed immediately on the north end of the bridge. The two sides were in a race, and the engineers got there first, by about 5 minutes. They literally moved in, deployed, exchanged fire with the first German unit causing it retreat, blew the bridge, and then got hit by a massive artillery strike that killed most of the company as well as the SPAT platoon, leaving only 41 shell-shocked survivors to flee toward the protection of the regimental HQ.

But they blew the bridge.

The Germans were still moving toward the Ouren North bridge at scenario end. The engineers were out of action, but the 112th cannon company was moving into Peterskirch village to guard the bridge against the German 2.1128 company working its way down the trail toward the north bridge. The light tanks of D company, 707th tank bn were assaulting into the rear of the 2.1128th to try to stop their advance as well.

It would have been interesting to see what happened at the north bridge. IMO, that German company was unsupported, and I had a good chance to blow the bridge even without the enginners.

[simovitch]

This one was admittedly hard to balance and always seemed an easy win for the Germans. So I may have over-balanced it into that "always a draw but never a win" condition for the Americans. The Germans historically took a beating in this sector before the US finally abandoned Ouren late on the 17th.

I'll take a look at this one again over the next few days.

[FredSanford3]

Score aside, it ended up a suspenseful little scenario.

[henri51]

Why doesn't anyone ever give the name of the scenario?[:@]

Henri

[johnasl]

ORIGINAL: henri51

Why doesn't anyone ever give the name of the scenario?[:@]

Henri

"Stuck in the Teeth"